IX: The Last Ray of Light
by nymphonic
Summary: Kylo Ren is emotionally wrecked after his failure at Crait and so he disappears. Rey has a bounty on her head so her presence threatens the safety of the Resistance and she is forced to go into hiding. The two are becoming more unbalanced as their force connection persists. Hux is the new Supreme Leader and Princess Leia has fallen ill after the death of her brother.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I decided to expand a one shot I did a while back. I did change some stuff though so it's different. But this first chapter is the only thing that's really the same so I'm posting chapter 2 back to back with this one. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter One

It'd been months since Rey had shut the door of the Falcon on him. He knelt before her clutching the golden dice that used to belong to his father. They disappeared in his hand and Rey along with them. She'd shut him out as everyone else in his life had but this time he couldn't help but feel as though he deserved it. The ones around him, feared him and they obeyed him because they had to. In his role as Supreme Leader, he could dictate how people felt about him. He didn't have to earn their affections or their respect. He liked it that way.

Kylo Ren sat aboard his ship alone. He'd dismissed his crew and sent Hux away. He wanted the solitude after his failure at Crait. He'd been circling the galaxy alone since that day leaving General Hux to do whatever he wanted with the First Order army. He knew Hux wouldn't be able to find the Falcon without him so the war would be on a stalemate until he returned anyway. _If_ he returned.

He had shut himself off from the force. He didn't want his uncle coming to taunt him from beyond the grave. He could feel Rey trying to connect with him every so often but he shut her out too. She was a reminder that he'd squandered his last chance. It hadn't been too late before but it was definitely too late now.

He threw his clothes aside and climbed into bed. He allowed his thoughts to torture him until he was worn out enough to sleep. He tossed and turned restlessly amidst his black, satin sheets. How ridiculous they were. All of the accoutrement was ridiculous.

Ren thought that when his uncle died, the night he burned the temple would disappear from his dreams. But it replayed over and over again in his mind. He always woke up right before Luke swung his lightsaber to kill him. He could hear Luke's voice in his mind, ' _Ben, no!'_. He heard the familiar screams that followed and then he jolted awake in a cold sweat. He looked around the room. Visibility was limited in the dark but he could see that all of the furniture in his chamber was hovering above the ground. He sat up in bed and tried to regain his breath. He looked around him, feeling the presence of another. It was probably his droid.

He turned to have a look and was shocked to find a figure asleep in his bed next to him. The shock it gave him caused him to release his force hold on everything in the room. All of the furniture crashed to the ground with a loud thud and the figure beside him jumped up in fright. It was Rey.

"What am I doing here?!" she yelled, pulling her blaster out in one swift movement.

"I'd like to know the same," Ren said, trying but failing to summon his lightsaber.

"You've cut yourself off from the force," Rey observed. "You're weak."

"I'm not weak," Ren replied. "I just didn't want unexpected visits from you or Luke Skywalker but obviously it's not working. I guess I can't control it in my sleep."

"What were you dreaming about?" Rey asked suspiciously.

"Not you," Ren snapped. "What were _you_ dreaming about? You're the one that appeared in my bed."

Rey put her blaster away and stepped closer. Ren flinched. He took a step back.

"Are you afraid of me? Don't lie to me. I can sense it," she said.

"No. But you're stronger now. I can feel it. Why?" Ren asked.

"Because you've abandoned the force. I don't have you to balance me out," she replied.

Ren looked Rey up and down. She was still wearing her Jedi knight uniform.

"Is that how you sleep?" Ren asked.

"Yes," Rey replied, offended. "Not everyone has their own ship. Up until I joined the Rebellion I lived in an abandoned AT-AT walker in the middle of the Jakku desert. I don't exactly have a lot of things and certainly no time to go buy them. Or should I sleep naked like you?"

Ren gave Rey a disapproving look and didn't justify her question with an answer. She was implying that he was a spoiled brat and he didn't like that. He'd been raised by a princess and a smuggler. He'd gotten anything he wanted as a child except for their love. He wasn't charming or smooth-talking like his father and he wasn't refined like his mother. He was tall, brooding, awkward and had more power than he knew what to do with. His parents feared him and so they sent him away to an uncle that tried to murder him in his sleep.

"I'm tired, Rey. You can leave if you only want to insult me," Ren said.

"Ben," Rey whispered. "I'm sorry."

His ears perked up at the sound of his name.

"You're sorry!" Ben growled. "For what? For disturbing my sleep? I think there are other things you should be sorry for!"

Rey went over to Ben and took both of his hands in hers. He flinched at the contact but he didn't pull away.

"I abandoned you. I'm sorry, Ben. But you must understand why," Rey pleaded.

"I killed Snoke for no other reason than me not wanting to see you die," he said. "I betrayed my allegiance to him. I betrayed my mission and the dark side. And for what? You left me. Hux wants me dead, the Rebellion obviously wants me dead. Even the force wants me dead. It's tearing me apart and you're sorry?!" Ben barked.

"You killed Han Solo!" Rey cried.

"Yeah and he was _my_ father. Not yours. He was mine to lose and he's mine to mourn. My relationship with him is none of your business! Must I remind you that you've killed too, Rey. The whole Rebellion has killed. Don't play the moral high ground here because we'll both lose," Ben spat. "You think you all are so great and fight for the light but Luke tried to murder me in my sleep. I was a child! He failed me and I'm sorry to say it but he failed you too."

"He did," Rey admitted. "I didn't care for him. He was angry and cruel and he was too consumed by his own mistakes to help me."

Ben was surprised by her reaction. He expected her to be in love with Luke like the rest of the universe was.

"You trained me, Ben. More than Luke ever did," Rey said. "You're the first person I ever saw use the force and the first person I ever saw wield a lightsaber. You even offered to teach me several times and I said no. But I didn't need teaching. I've been fighting my entire life. I needed someone to support me and nurture me while I was figuring all of this out. You did that for me. You showed me how to use the force and you showed me how important and how strong I actually am. You've never underestimated me and you've always been patient. I've never had anyone before. It killed me to leave you but I had to. I hope you understand why."

"Whether I understand or not, you still left." Ben said. "You have to understand why I couldn't join you too."

"I do," Rey said. "But where does that leave us?"

"Nowhere. There's no future where we end up together." Ben said.

Rey contemplated his words. They were harsh but he was right. There were two sides and they were on either one. If either of them deviated, the force would be unbalanced and the destruction they'd cause would be unmatched.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

General Hux was busying himself aboard his new capital ship, The Sovereignty. He had a new Starkiller Base in the works and it became his full-time job to oversee the project. He had a lack of leadership to assist him since the mighty Kylo Ren had gone rogue and the captain of the stormtroopers, Phasma, had been killed by Finn. He didn't mind it, however. He liked the freedom of making decisions without the volatile Kylo Ren, who made decisions solely based on his tumultuous emotions, to sully them.

General Hux did however have someone in mind to replace Phasma. She had been a low ranking officer but she'd always respected Hux's direction and his ideas for the First Order. He would soon promote her to his old post. Her name was Chimera. Hux was fond of her and it was nice to have someone that actually took his orders. A real partner. She didn't use the force to choke him or throw him around the bridge when she disagreed with him. She was rational, intelligent and would be an asset to his operation.

"What will we do when Kylo Ren returns, General Hux?" Chimera asked.

" _If_ that swine returns, he'll ruin everything we've built together." Hux coughed.

"He's unpredictable and he's dangerous," Chimera said. "You should be Supreme Leader. You've been winning the battles. The war. You've been rebuilding the Starkiller Base and training the armies while he's run off and left it all to you."

"It's treason to speak that way, Chimera." Hux chided. "But you're right. What should I do?"

Her sandy, blonde hair was loose around her shoulders. She was the only woman in the First Order who wore her hair that way. Everyone else kept it slicked back at Hux's insistence but he hardly noticed she went against his rules.

"I think you should make sure Kylo Ren doesn't return." Chimera said. "You have a bounty on Rey's head for killing Leader Snoke, don't you? She didn't do it alone and you know it."

Hux's eyes grew wide.

"He's...powerful," Hux said. "If we aim and miss, he'll kill us all."

"Then don't miss," Chimera replied.

* * *

Rey and Ben sparred with each other on a grassy hill in Ahch-to. Since Rey had a bounty on her head, it wasn't safe for her to stay aboard the Millennium Falcon. She had to stay in hiding and the safest place she could think of was Luke Skywalker's old hideout. He' stayed there for years undetected. Rey laughed to herself every time she thought about the effort the First Order put into finding it and how they never did.

When she arrived there, Luke's empty robes sat near the rock where he'd been the day of the battle of Crait. The wind had blown them slightly but they were still there. Rey folded them up and kept them in one of the remaining Jedi structures for safe keeping.

She went back and forth with Ben in a flash of red and blue light. He won every single fight. Rey couldn't understand what she was doing wrong.

"You can't just be strong, Rey. You have to be smart about how you fight," Ben said. "You'll tire yourself out before you could ever win."

"Are you calling me stupid?" Rey asked, defiantly.

"I'm calling you terrifying," Ben said. "You scare your opponents. With your power and all that strength. You scare your opponents into losing. But one day you'll have an opponent that isn't afraid of you and you'll _really_ need to know how to fight."

"I've beaten _you_ before." Rey shot back.

"But what's different now?" Ben asked her. "Think about it. What's different?"  
Rey didn't know what he meant. She just stared at him, waiting for him to tell her.

"You were fighting _me_ , Rey." Ben said.

"I'm fighting you _now_ ," Rey replied incredulously.

"Yes, but we're equals in strength. We split Luke's lightsaber right down the middle. So why did you win and not me?" Ben asked expecting no answer. "It's because I was afraid of you. You got in my head and saw my fears and it scared me to my soul. And the way that you swing a lightsaber. So strong and so fierce with everything that you have. I've never fought someone even nearly as strong as I am before. I didn't know I'd ever have to try. I underestimated you. People won't do that anymore. They know your strength now."

"So you're not scared of me anymore?" she asked him with a slight smirk.

"In a different way," Ben replied. "But that's not what I'm talking about. I was holding back from you because I've never wanted to hurt you."

"So you let me win?"

"No. I didn't. But I couldn't help but hold back." Ben replied. "You're holding back right now, Rey. I can sense it. I don't see that girl that took down three Praetorian guards single handedly anymore. I don't sense that ferocity."

Rey knew what Ben was trying to make her admit but she wouldn't take the bait. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that he was her weakness.

"Four," Rey corrected, trying to change the subject.

"What?"

"I took down four guards. One nearly had your throat, remember?" Rey teased.

Ben's lip tightened.

"I'm being serious," Ben retorted, puffing out his chest.

"You're always serious. And why? Are you training me to fight _you_?" Rey asked. "Should I be afraid of you?"

"I was able to beat Snoke because I was clever. I lost against you because my emotions interfered with my head. I'm training you to be smart and not let your emotions ever get in your way. I'm training you to win even if it's against me."

"Why are you saying this? Are you planning on rejoining the First Order?" Rey asked.

"No. I'm done with all of it," Ben said. "But the force is still pulling me apart. If I go deeper into the dark side and if I ever try to hurt you, I want you to win."

"That won't happen," Rey insisted. "You've never hurt me before. You killed Snoke for me. You wouldn't do that."

"Anakin, my grandfather, went so far into the dark side that he caused my grandmother's death. And this is a woman that he defied the Jedi Order to be with. It makes you do things that you never thought you could do. I killed my own father." Ben said.

He belted his lightsaber and stepped in closer. He took the newly mended lightsaber of his grandfather from Rey and examined it, switching it from hand to hand.

"I'd always wanted to be him, you know." Ben said softly. "But I wanted to be the monster. I didn't want to be the man that fell in love with a queen and married her in secret. But I think I'm becoming him anyway and I'm scared."

They took a moment to lock eyes. Rey could see a fire burning there that confirmed that everything he said was true. When the intensity of their stare got to be too much, Ben looked back down to the lightsaber. He rubbed his thumb over the length of it. It really was a beautifully made weapon, crafted by his grandfather and repaired by Rey. How he'd wanted this lightsaber for so many years but he regretted that it had never called to him. He smirked and threw it back to Rey, who caught it in one hand. He looked into her eyes as he drifted away back to his own ship. He looked around his empty chamber and sighed. The only noise was the soft humming of the engine.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry it wasn't clear. Kylo Ren is sort of just flying around space aimlessly, hiding from everyone. He's not on Ahch-to with Rey. They only communicate through the force bond.

Chapter 3

"We have no army, no ships, nothing. We don't even have Rey anymore. We need her. We need something!" Finn said, slamming his fist down on the control panel in the Falcon.

"Calm down," Rose urged him. "We have our lives. That's something to celebrate."

"She's right." Leia said, smiling weakly at Rose. "We are the last bit of hope. Hope is more important than you know."  
"And Rey? _She_ feels like our last hope," Finn said to which Rose shot him a sideways glance.

"She can't be aboard this ship. There's a target on her back. We can't risk what's left of the Resistance. I know you care for her but it's too risky," Poe added.

"Who'd even know?" Finn asked, still not accepting the situation.

"My son." Leia sighed.

Poe, Finn and Rose stole a glance at each other before looking back to their leader. She looked tired, making her look older beyond her years. She'd started to wither away since Luke died. She'd always felt him there even if they were millions of miles apart. They were brought into the world together and she'd never known what it was like to exist without his presence. She'd always felt him in the force even though she didn't meet him in person until they were adults. This was the first time she didn't feel him there and the emptiness was enough to swallow her whole. She felt broken and empty and what little will she had to go on was pumped into keeping the morale of the Resistance up. She knew she wouldn't live much longer. The emptiness combined with her broken heart over Han's death and her son's betrayal was making her physically ill. The doctors could offer no explanation or treatment and so they were to watch their fearless leader diminish before their eyes and there was nothing that could be done about it.

"They just have too many soldiers," Poe said after a few seconds. "Their army has always outnumbered us."

"We just don't have the numbers to fight them and no one has answered our distress call. We're all that's left. What can we do?" Leia asked.

"We have to go after the army," Rose said in her perky little voice.

"We know. We can't. That's the issue," Poe said, rolling his eyes.

"No I mean. The stormtroopers were programmed to be soldiers, right? Can we un-program them somehow? Look at Finn. He turned. Maybe the others can too?" Rose asked, hopefully.

They all looked to Finn for his reaction. They were met with confusion and uncertainty.

"What made you rebell?" Poe asked. "What happened? On Jakku, was that your first mission?"

"I honestly don't know what happened. That was my first real mission but I'd been training with the First Order my entire life. Something in me just...shifted. I couldn't tell you what," Finn said. "I'd never had doubts about what I was doing before. I ate, slept and dreamt the First Order."

"We need to know how they control the stormtroopers. Rey said it herself that mind controlling that one stormtrooper to release her at Starkiller base seemed too easy to her. Something is being done to them and whatever it is, it was undone in you." Leia said with some newfound zest.

Rose smiled proudly at her suggestion but Finn didn't meet her gaze when she went searching for it. He was waiting for Poe's opinion.

"What did you do everyday?" Poe asked Finn after some contemplation.

"We ate, we trained, we watched General Hux speak to us on a holoprojector at least three times a day-"

Poe cut him off.

"What did Hux say on the holoprojector?" Poe asked.

"The same thing every time. He told us our duties and made us pledge our loyalty." Finn said.

"Subliminal messaging?" Rose suggested.

"Possibly." Leia said. "And he didn't speak to you on any designated schedule?"

"No. It could be once or maybe three times a day. It would be more often when we had missions now that I think about it." Finn said.

The four of them looked at each other and each of them had a new glimmer of hope in their eyes. Tyrants don't win wars without armies. This was going to be how they won. This was their answer they'd been searching for. It was a shot in the dark but it was the only plan they'd had that was even remotely possible given their small numbers.

Rey woke up in Ben's bed again. It was just more comfortable than the little cot she'd set up for herself in the stone hut on Ahch-to and so her mind subconsciously took her there some nights. Since they'd been training they were able to expand their minds further and see and interact with each other's surroundings.

She liked having Ben's presence around her. It was nice to have anyone there. She was completely alone on the island besides the caretakers who didn't like her all that much. Ben came to appreciate her company as well. Since he'd learned of the bounty that General Hux had placed on him, he'd been living exclusively aboard his ship jumping from system to system, going to the farthest most remote reaches of space where no one could find him. Rey was the only person he had contact with as well. They sparred and trained some days, they read through the ancient Jedi texts on others. Sometimes they just talked and sometimes they just went about their days with the comfort of knowing that someone else was there. Through their time together they'd fostered such a strong bond and they'd learned so much more about the force and themselves than they could ever have learned from Snoke or Luke Skywalker. They were vessels for the force and so they could learn about it by learning about themselves. They helped each other discover one another and by doing so they were becoming more and more powerful as the days wore on.

"You could join me on my ship you know," Ben said. "You might feel like you're in my bed now but you're still going to wake up with backaches from that rock you're actually sleeping on."

Her eyes were closed even though she wasn't sleeping. But she opened them at the sound of Ben's voice. She was on her side facing the middle of the bed and he was lying next to her, on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

"I can't," Rey said, her voice raspy from sleep.

"Why?"

"You know why."

And he did. No one knew about their connection except for Luke and Snoke and they were both dead. No one knew of the bond they'd formed outside of their force connection. She couldn't go on the run with him for fear of being caught with someone who was supposed to be her enemy. She'd lose the first friends she'd ever had and she'd be alone again. She couldn't risk that based on an attraction. One that she wasn't even certain of.

"Why are you afraid of Hux?" Rey asked Ben, trying to change the subject. "You could kill him with the flick of your wrist. Why are you hiding?"

"He's smarter than you think," Ben replied. "I can make things float and I can deflect a few blaster beams but I wouldn't survive the arsenal he'd hit me with."

"You underestimate your power," Rey said. "You could take that army back if you wanted to."

"But I don't want to. I just want to be alone for now," he said. "I've learned so much these past few weeks. I just want to stay like this. With you. At least for now. I don't want to fight just yet."

He turned to the middle of the bed so that they were eye to eye.

"Are you on vacation?" Rey joked to which Ben laughed. The first real smile Rey had ever seen on him.

"I guess you could say that I am," he said. "It feels good."

"We can't hide out forever though, sadly." Rey sighed.

Ben watched the light dancing on Rey's cheek. He thought about seeing what it felt like but he didn't dare touch her. He wanted her to stay. But she could feel his restraint in the air and she appreciated him for it. She was tempting him by appearing in his bed night after night and she knew it. But he was always respectful regardless.

They lay there for a few minutes just admiring each other quietly. Rey was a literal light in his dark chambers. She had the sunlight of Ahch-to on her skin. But he was far in the reaches of space where the sunlight couldn't hit him. She was the only bit of sun he'd seen in weeks.

"Tell me where you are," Ben said as more of a suggestion than a demand. "I know you're on that island but tell me how to get to you. Please."

"We're safer apart," Rey said. "We'll be with each other one day though. I saw it."

"Promise me that that's true," Ben said.

"It is."

"Then I guess I'll have to wait."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! Sorry for going light on the Reylo but next chapter should be a treat. haha.

Chapter 4

"We need to sneak aboard that ship," Rose said, referring to the Sovereignty.

"But how? It's a brand new ship. I'm not familiar with it and I doubt they'd make it the same as the Supremacy. They know we know the plans for that ship." Finn said.

"And they know our faces now," Rose chimed in. "We're not exactly close friends of the First Order."

"We just need to lead a small team. Just you, Finn and I." Poe suggested.

"Then what? We tried the dress up thing already," Finn said.

"What would Han Solo do?" Poe asked.

"He'd grab a blaster and walk inside with no plan whatsoever probably," Finn replied.

"We can report a Kylo Ren sighting too so maybe he'll send away some of his ships after him. We can thin out the fleet a little bit," Rose said.

"Genius." Finn kissed her on the forehead and she blushed.

"We need to go when Hux least expects it. We'll go after him exclusively, surprise him and then replace the holoprojector signal with our own. We can have BB-8 analyze and install a new subliminal message and play it to the stormtroopers." Poe said.

"So that's the plan I guess?" Finn asked. "Just don't get caught?"

"It's all we've got," Rose sighed. "We need to do it soon too. Leia isn't doing too well. Maybe a win would lift her spirits."

The three of them downed the rest of their drinks. They were huddled together in a pub on the beautiful Cloud City. The Resistance found the Millennium Falcon too risky to stay aboard. It was one of the most recognizable ships in the galaxy. They found refuge with Lando Calrissian, who was delighted to get the Falcon back and see Leia again. She needed to see a friend, a familiar face.

Leia sat with Lando, C3PO and Chewbacca in the private chamber Lando had arranged for her. It was nice to be back. She hadn't seen Lando in years. He had had such a strange relationship with Han and he reminded her of him in a certain way. It was a comforting feeling.

"I don't think that I can stay in this fight much longer, Lando." Leia said to her old friend. "I think the force is going to claim me soon. I can feel it."

"Don't say that. There has to be something we can do," Lando replied.

"No it's okay. I want to be with my brother again," Leia said. "Everyone I love is gone. And it's time for the Resistance to have a new, fresh face. Not the daughter of Darth Vader and the mother of Kylo Ren."

Chewbacca let out a roar.

"He's right," Lando said. "You've held this Resistance together when they had no reason to believe in it."

"Nonetheless, it's time for me. I just want to see my son one last time." Leia said.

Chewbacca let out a disapproving cry.

"He's been on the run for quite some time. I can get my spies on it," Lando suggested.

"He's too smart to be found like that. He has the entire First Order looking for him. But I think I might know someone who would know where he is." Leia said. "I just need a ship."

"You have one," Lando said. "The Falcon."

Leia put a hand over Lando's. He knew what it meant to him to get the ship back in Cloud City and what it meant for him to give it up again.

"Shall I alert Commander Dameron that we're departing, General Organa?" C3PO asked.

"No. We can't tell anyone we're leaving. They need to focus on their mission." she said.

Chewbacca growled his offer to accompany Leia on her journey. She smiled up at wookiee. She was glad to have her last mission be aboard her husband's ship with his lifelong best friend.

"Thank you, Lando. For everything." she said, squeezing his hand.

"You're welcome, Princess." Lando replied.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Chapter 5

"Do you remember your parents?" Ben asked Rey as they sat by the fire in Rey's stone hut.

"I have one memory of them," Rey replied. "Of their ship leaving me."

Ben looked shocked at the confession. He tried to meet her gaze but she didn't look up. She just stared into the fire. But he could feel her pain spill out into The Force. She tried to dam it up but she couldn't help it. It was the most painful thing that had ever happened to her and it nearly shaped her entire life until she discovered her powers within. Maz's words sounded in her head just then so loudly that Ben could hear them: "The belonging you seek is not behind you - it is ahead."

"Your parents were too poor to have a ship. They're buried on Jakku. They never left." Ben said bluntly.

"You know that for sure?" Rey asked, ignoring his shortness. "I have this memory of a ship taking off and me screaming after it. It felt so real. I saw it again in Maz's castle when I touched your grandfather's lightsaber for the first time."

"Maybe it was real then." Ben replied, tight-lipped.

Rey looked at him confused. He clearly knew something that he wasn't saying. She wished he wouldn't play this game. There was nothing he could hide from her and he was an awful liar anyway even without the Force connection.

"Tell me the truth, Ben." Rey pleaded.

His expression remained stoney.

"Tell me the truth, Kylo." Rey repeated, using his chosen name, to which he sneered.

"Let the past die, Rey. It's not important how or why they left. They just left," Ben said, growing more defensive.

"It hurt so terribly to watch them leave but I don't remember anything else about them or that day. If I could just know why, maybe I could move on. You saw something. You told me so yourself. Just tell me what it was. Please help me with this pain that I have. I know that you feel it too," Rey asked, her eyes softening.

"You should just let it go. Not every story has an ending," Ben replied.

"Why did you bring up my parents if you didn't want to talk about it?" Rey demanded. "You're cruel."

"We've established this," Ben said dryly.

It annoyed Rey that the only person able to comfort her hurt feelings was the same person hurting them. She stepped into him as a show of power and started to push into his mind. If he wouldn't tell her then she'd take the information by force.

"That wasn't their ship, Rey." Ben blurted finally, knowing he wasn't focused enough to resist her mind probe.

"How do you know?" Rey asked, getting irritated. "How do you know so much about me and I so little about you."

"Because it was my ship. That was me," Ben confessed. "I didn't need to see your past when we touched hands that night. Because I already knew it. I was there."

Rey recoiled from him as though he'd burned her.

"What are you saying?" Rey asked.

"Do you remember that first day we met?" Ben asked.

Ben took a few steps towards Rey to close the gap she'd created.

"When you chased me through the woods and kidnapped me? Strangely I do," Rey said flatly. "So?"

"I'd seen you before that but you looked the same as you did that day. Your clothes. Your hair." He said. "I saw a vision of you. The day I destroyed Luke's temple. I was with the Knights of Ren and you appeared out of nowhere. A man was charging at you and I stabbed him through the heart. I saw you. I know that I saw you but the Knights claimed not to. And when I took a step towards you, you disappeared."

"My force vision. I saw you too when I touched the lightsaber. Before we'd met," Rey said. "I saw the near future but you saw me ten years ago? How is that even possible?"

"I've felt our connection since I was teenager. Since that night." He said. "I've always felt you and when I saw you again that day in the woods … well, you know. You … distract me."

She was still trying to figure out the mystery but Ben had moved on from it. He'd had ten years to think about it and he finally realized he didn't care.

"And the ship?" she asked.

"I allowed the force to lead me to you. But when I got to Jakku, you were a child. No more than nine years old. I thought that I'd made a mistake but you came up to me and you asked me if I was your father," Ben replied. "But it was you. I was sure of it. I felt the same Force energy around that little girl and even your hair was the same."

"That was you?" Rey asked in disbelief. "You would have been the same age back then as I am now. And I thought that you were my father."

"In some ways I haven't grown since then. I'm still that teenager," Ben replied. "But nevertheless, I couldn't figure out what happened. I jumped back in my ship and took off immediately. I'm sorry. So when I was told of a girl on Jakku that'd helped that droid escape with the map, I knew immediately that it was you."

"I waited for you to come back for ten years," Rey said with no malice in her voice, just emptiness. "I thought that you were my father. I was drawn to you. I thought that that had to be a familial connection. But I'd never had family so I didn't have anything to compare it to. It was the Force bond? We've been bonded our whole lives?"

Ben nodded.

"I never left Jakku because I was waiting for you to change your mind and come back one day. You're telling me I waited all this time for you?" Rey asked to which Ben nodded. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because I waited my entire life for you too. I waited for you to grow into the woman I'd seen in my vision when I was only a teenager. I thought about you every day for ten years, waiting. And now that I've seen you again, I'm in agony," Ben said.

Rey leaned into Ben instinctively, feeling his pull in The Force. She watched the fire crackling in his eyes and she thought about what it would mean if she just surrendered to her emotions. But she remembered her last lesson with him. He told her not to let her emotions get in the way and she was afraid that if she surrendered even a little bit, she'd be lost to them. She pulled back and maintained her distance.

"It's sort of comforting to know they're not coming back," Rey said after a few moments. "But sort of sad to know that I waited so long for nothing."

"For nothing? Is that how you feel?" Ben asked, hurt. "I can give you more than they ever could have."

"I don't want anything," Rey said. "I just want a family."

"I know," Ben replied. "I'll give you everything. But you can't ask me to fight with your side. I can't. I just can't."

Rey looked at him and saw his pain. She felt his pain too. Expecting him to fight with her was like asking her to wait for her parents for another ten years, another thousand years. It wasn't political for him. It was personal. He had been telling her that he didn't care about this war all along but this was the first time she truly believed him.

Ben knew that Rey wouldn't leave the Resistance for him. He nearly laughed at his silliness for even requesting it. Once again the war stood between him and something that he really wanted. He wished that he wasn't a Skywalker or a Solo or even a Force user altogether. He wished his life was small and that his problems were small too. He wished that his decisions and the decisions of everyone around him didn't have such heavy consequences. Nothing could ever be simple for him.

The two were caught there in suspended animation. Rey wasn't willing to go with him and he wasn't willing to go with her. But they still couldn't leave each other alone. They were nowhere, together but not really. They were apart but still connected. But how long could the nothingness last? They'd have to chose soon and they resented that fact that loomed over their heads like a dark cloud.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Been busy. Sorry for the delay so I'll just post 2 chapters now. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Chewie, C3PO and R2D2 readied the Falcon for their journey to Ahch-to. They tried to be as discreet as possible as not to be seen. Poe and the others would learn of her departure in the morning. She asked Lando to tell them where she'd gone. She knew they'd try to stop her if she told them all beforehand. It was better this way.

"I hope you find Rey," Lando said as he bid Leia farewell.

Leia smiled at him before turning to board the Falcon. Chewie extended a hand to her and helped her aboard. The place still felt like Han. It was disorderly and even more so now that Chewbacca had taken to fostering Porgs.

The old friends got into the air and then jumped to lightspeed while Lando stood at the dock watching. A pang of sadness hit his heart when he realized he would not be see Leia again. He sighed and turned to go back inside.

Lando was unaware of a First Order spy droid that'd witnessed the entire interaction. It sped off to notify Hux of its new intelligence.

* * *

Poe, Finn and Rose secretly boarded a ship of their own. It was a tiny fighter jet that was only meant for two but the three squeezed in. They'd stolen it off Lando's lot. They didn't feel bad though. Lando had probably stolen it off someone else.

They were armed with no more than a few blasters and their hope. _What would Han do?_ Something stupid and reckless of course and this was certainly that.

"When we get to the ship we'll only have a few minutes to get to Hux before the stormtroopers notice something is wrong," Finn said. "If we're captured, that's it."

Rose breathed in sharply. She was nervous. She was only an engineer, not a soldier. This mission was beyond anything she'd ever done before and to say she was scared was an understatement. They were walking willingly into a lion's den.

They were able to get close enough to latch onto the outside of The Sovereignty. Poe really was an amazing pilot. BB-8 beeped and squeaked his approval.

"Okay, so now what?" Finn asked.

"How do we get inside?" Rose asked.

"Um. Good question. But look, there are ships deploying. Our fake tip about Kylo Ren worked," Poe said.

"If you could get us into one of the stormtrooper carrier ships, we could overtake it and then fly it right through the front door." Rose said.

"Well that shouldn't be too hard," Poe said sarcastically.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Finn said. "The ships aren't piloted. They're remote piloted but you can override them and fly it manually. If it returns to base, they'll just think it was a system failure. We can sneak off the ship before they find us."

Without further discussion Poe took the fighter jet into the air and threw on a cloaking device. He got as close as possible to the ship and landed it over the cockpit hatch. He laid it down as gently as possible as not to make any noise that would alert the stormtroopers aboard. He executed it flawlessly. BB-8 deployed the door of their jet and created an air seal against the stormtrooper's ship. Poe, Rose and Finn dropped down into the cockpit that was almost smaller than the little jet they'd just gotten off. BB-8 followed after them and sealed the door with them inside. When the air seal was broken and the doors had been shut, the jet detached from the carrier and floated off into space.

Poe and BB-8 got to work overriding the carrier's control. It didn't take long. They'd soon be inside The Sovereignty.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I felt bad about the wait so I released 6 and 7 at the same time. If you haven't read chapter 6 yet stop now and go back! haha. enjoy.

Chapter 7

Ben followed Rey down to the caves of Ahch-to. He'd heard Rey talk about it but he wanted to see it for himself.

"The last time I was here, I felt so alone." Rey said. "I'm glad you're here with me now."

He followed Rey to the mouth of the caves. They could both feel the darkness and the emptiness pulsating beneath them.

"Did you swim on Jakku?" Ben asked.

"Of course not. There wasn't even enough water to drink," Rey replied. She rolled her eyes when she realized Ben was teasing her.

"Are you going to swim in your uniform, Supreme Leader?" Rey asked, eyeing Ben's black, pressed uniform. "Why do you still wear that thing anyway?"

Ben rolled his eyes and began undoing the belt that held his lightsaber. He stripped down to the waist and sat at the seaweed covered mouth of the caves. He waited for Rey to join him. She sat next to him and looked down, dreading entering that place again.

Rey put her hand over Ben's and he instinctively clasped his fingers around it. They looked at each other and took a deep breath before dropping down into the water. Ben wasn't sure what he'd feel, not actually being there, but it felt real enough.

He was weighed down by his heavy boots but he managed to get to the surface. Rey was struggling so Ben pulled her up by her hand that he realized he was still holding. Rey swam over to the edge to get out.

"Wait," Ben said.

Rey looked back and let go of the ledge.

"I'm not a great swimmer," Rey said.

"It's okay."

Ben swam over to her and seized her by the waist, causing her to gasp. He pulled her away from the stone wall and supported both of their weight in the middle of the water. A circle of light surrounded them which came in through the round opening above.

"What did you think you'd find down here?" Rey asked.

"Nothing."

Rey studied his face. She pushed his wet black hair out of his eyes so she could see more clearly.

"Then why did you come?" Rey asked.

"Because I need you to see something and I didn't want you to be alone again." Ben said.

"See what?" she asked.

Ben evaded the question.

"I've had years to train, Rey. You've only just begun to control your powers." he said.

"But I've been in your head. I've been able to access lessons you've already learned." she replied.

"Enter my head now. Tell me what you see," Ben said.

Rey took in a breath. She placed a hand on the back of Ben's neck and the other on his chest. She rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes.

Ben ignored the initial pain of Rey entering his mind. When he relaxed and let her in, the pain subsided.

Rey was surprised to see herself in his mind. She was wearing a black dress and a crown. Ben stood by her side. They turned to face each other and then looked out over a crowd. It looked like thousands of people. Maybe millions. They all bowed before the two. Rey then nodded at Ben and he raised a hand out towards the people. All of them fell, seemingly dead.

Rey opened her eyes suddenly, disgusted by the vision.

"Why is that in your mind?" Rey asked, stunned.

"It's not. It was in yours." Ben replied. "We can only see possibilities but the ones that appear in visions are the ones that we want to happen."

"That's not what I want."

"Somewhere deep down, it is." he replied. "Sometimes the fear of wanting something, trying to stop it from happening, can make it happen even faster."

"Why'd you bring me here? What'd you want me to see?" Rey asked.

"Picture the worst thing that you can imagine," Ben said. "And now try not to think of it. You can't, can you? Denial can turn to obsession. Obsession can lead you to dark places."

"You," Rey whispered.

"Me," Ben said simply.

Rey understood. He was worried that if she were to ever reciprocate his feelings, if she were to ever stand by his side, that it'd be because she'd fallen to the dark side. He wanted her but only if she wanted him back. Truly wanted him. He'd been corrupted and twisted by the dark side. He didn't want that for her. And he didn't want her conflating him with the dark side of the force. He wanted her to be able to distinguish him from it. To really see him.

"Stop denying your darkness. And me," Ben said. "See me for what I am, not what you want me to be."  
"Then you must stop denying your light. Meet me in the middle, Ben." Rey pleaded. "Let go. Stop trying to be something you're not."

"What if I'm trying to be something that I am?" Ben asked. "What if I've already done too much harm and I can't come back from it?"

"I'll pull you back," Rey said.

"You feel afraid down here. The emptiness scares you but this feels like home to me," Ben said, referring to the caves.

"I'll pull you back, Ben." Rey repeated. "No matter how far you go, I'll follow you and I'll pull you back. If you promise to do the same for me."

"You know that I will," Ben replied. "The more we grow in strength, the farther we have to fall."

"I'm scared," Rey whispered. "I finally have things to lose."

She put her arms around his neck to support herself a little better in the water. He moved so gently and so smoothly that she'd nearly forgotten that there was no ground beneath her feet. She pushed his hair back again out of his face and really looked at him as though she were seeing him for the first time.

"I do see you, you know. For what you are," she said.

"You don't. Or you wouldn't still be here," Ben replied.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Sorry for the wait! I'll post Chapter 9 in a few minutes as well.

"General Hux. I've just received word from one of our spies that General Organa is aboard the Millennium Falcon and she's on her way to find the girl," Chimera told the redheaded general.

"Supreme Leader Hux," he corrected her. "And this is good news. We just had to wait them out. Patience is something Kylo Ren was incapable of."

"Should I send some carriers to follow the Falcon?" Chimera asked.

"No. I want you to go," he said. "Don't tell anyone where you're going. I only trust you with this."

"Me?" she asked. "Alone?"

"Once you've got a location, I'll send the fleet. I just want to make sure before we show our hand," he said.

"Very wise, sir."

"I think Kylo Ren will be with her," he said. "We have a chance to take them both out at once if the spy was correct. I want you to take a few troopers with you if you wish and I want you to leave now."

"And leave you here alone?" she asked. "I'd rather stand by your side."

"I'll be safe once Kylo Ren and that girl have been taken care of. I need this."

Chimera nodded and left the room.

* * *

Once the stormtrooper carrier landed back aboard the Sovereignty, Poe, Finn and Rose climbed out of the bottom hatch and hid below the ship in a crevice of the hangar. They could hear the engineers and the officers arguing over what had caused the system failure. When they were distracted, the three of them and BB-8 ducked behind a giant arsenal container.

"Now what?" Poe asked.

"Get in the container," Finn whispered. "They need to take it to the weapon's vault for weapon's inspection. That's what they always do once a ship has arrived. When we get into the vault, we can take it from there."

They got into the container undetected and lay between the perfectly aligned rows of bombs. Each of them was scared to move even a centimeter, frightened the bombs would spontaneously detonate. They lid then came over them and sealed with a hiss of vapor, leaving them in complete darkness.

"If we don't make it out of this, like I suspect we won't," Rose said. "I just wanted to say that I'm glad to have met you both. And you too, BB-8."

Finn tried to find Rose's eyes in the dark. He wanted to reply but the container started moving before he got the chance. The jolt caused some of the bombs to clink together. Poe took in a sharp breath of air.

When they stopped moving, the three of them prepared for a fight. The container opened and Poe, Finn and Rose sprang up from their hiding spots and started shooting wildly into the room. They shot at all of the troopers in sight. The stormtroopers were reluctant to shoot back in the direction of the bombs, fearing an explosion, so they were easily overtaken.

They all got out and started to contemplate their next move.

"How do we get out of a vault? We're sealed in here," Poe asked.

"It's a weapon's vault though," Rose said.

"And?" Poe asked.

"Let's blow it up," Finn said, smiling at Rose.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I posted chapter 8 a few minutes ago. If you didn't read it, go back! haha. Anyway, here's a nice long chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

"I'm going mental on this island, Ben. I don't know how much longer I can manage this," Rey said. "We've been sitting out of the fight. We're the two most powerful people in the entire galaxy and we're sidelined. We train and we read books and for what? We're not in the fight!"

Ben was hurt that she'd minimized their time together like that but she was right. He couldn't stay in this dream with her forever. It was time for him to choose a side. But he just couldn't. The pull from both sides was still tearing him apart. When one side seemed to be winning, he'd be yanked in the other direction. He didn't know which way to go.

"What do you propose we do?" Ben asked, annoyed.

"Help me defeat the First Order," Rey pleaded. "I think you could be forgiven if you help."

"Forgiveness isn't what I'm after."

"Then what is?" Rey asked.

"You. I thought I'd made that clear," he said.

Rey was taken aback for a moment. But she made her way over to him and took his hands.

"Then come with me. Let's fight, side by side. I've never felt so charged then when we fought together. Not against each other. We could have that feeling all the time."

"You want me to defeat an entire army?" Ben asked. "I think you overestimate my power. This war is decades older than us. You think that if I ask the Order nicely to stop then they'll stop? You're naive."

"I'm asking you to try. That's all any of us can do," Rey replied. "Don't be like Luke. Don't run away from your mistakes. Just try."

"You ask too much!" Ben said loudly. "I already offered you the world. I offered you myself, the galaxy, the entire universe. I offered you everything and you said no. You don't deserve to ask anything else of me. I jeopardized all that I've built for you already. I won't do it again for you to just leave me. Again. I told you I've waited for you since I was a boy and I'm still waiting for you now. Let go, Rey. Just let go!"

Rey let go of Ben's hands. He mourned the sudden loss of her warmth.

"I don't intend to beg," Rey warned. "If you aren't with me then you're against me. And when the moment comes, I won't hesitate."

"The moment to what? Kill me?" Ben hissed. "Maybe you've never been loved because you don't know how to accept it."

Something in Rey switched off.

"You're a vile creature," Rey snapped back. "You've been telling me yourself this entire time and I chose to ignore your warnings. You're in my head! Get out!"

Ben's anger surged in him and he stretched out his hand towards his lightsaber which came flying towards his palm. But Rey deflected it and it flew into her hand instead. She ignited it and Ben backed away towards the wall. She began swinging wildly, destroying everything in her way. Ben just watched her in awe. He'd never known a woman to be so strong and so fierce. When she fought, she fought with pure strength and power. She was ignoring their training in that moment and she was acting on pure emotion and rage. But Ben liked that about her. She was powerful and she didn't hold back. That's the way she was with everything. She loved and she hated with equal ferocity and all he wanted was to be loved by her.

"Stop!" Ben yelled finally after his chamber was mostly in tatters.

Rey stopped abruptly and pointed the lightsaber at Ben instead. He tried to summon her blaster but Rey flicked it out of his hand with a motion of her wrist.

"I should kill you now." Rey said coldly.

"You're being pulled," Ben said, finding his calm. "The fear of loss is a path to the dark side."

"Fear of losing what? You?" Rey asked defiantly.

"You told me, when we were in the caves, that you finally had something to lose. Were you talking about me?" Ben asked, delicately as not to anger her.

"No." Rey lied.

"You don't want to hurt me but I do believe you will," he said. "You're stronger than I am, Rey. Fight it."

"You said I shouldn't let my emotions get in my way. If you're my weakness then you should die. You taught me that," she said, venom in her words.

"I shouldn't have taken you to the caves," Ben said. "I'm sorry. Just calm down. You're losing control."

Ben was scared of her. He'd never seen her this way. He'd seen waves of darkness pass through her a few times but this was terrifying. And he didn't have the passion or the conviction to match it. He had surrendered. Not to the side of the light. But to her. Their light and dark were melding into each other and it was hard to know where one stopped and the other started. Had he had too much of an influence on her? Had he been turning her to the dark this entire time without realizing it?

"The caves whisper to me at night. They make me feel alone and then I wake up in your bed. It's you that's seducing me to the dark side. Not anything else," Rey cried.

"Then do it." Ben dared her, uncertain if she actually would. "Kill me if you must. If it'll make you who you want to be then do it."

She approached him with the lightsaber and drew it closely to his face, illuminating it red. It was inches from his throat. She could do it. It'd be too easy. She'd be a hero.

"Do it!" Ben repeated.

Rey hesitated and Ben was able to win the upper hand. He used the force to send her smashing into the wall behind her. She winced at the pain in her back but she still held the lightsaber. Ben had her pinned to the wall with the force but she was still able to move her arms slightly. When Ben walked over to her, she brandished the lightsaber. She caught his shoulder slightly but it was only a flesh wound.

He knocked his lightsaber out of her hand and he seized her by the throat just firmly enough so she couldn't move but not hard enough to hurt. His force hold on her was still in place. She couldn't believe how strong he had gotten during their time together.

Rey tried to break the force bond and flee back to Ahch-to but she couldn't. She couldn't escape.

"I hate you!" Rey yelled.

"You don't. It's the dark side calling to you. This is my fault. I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want you to go through the same pain as I have. Fight this, Rey."

She started to slowly close her fist. The metal walls of the ship started to crush and bend around them.

"You're insane. You'll kill us both!" Ben shouted.

"I'm not really here," Rey said as she continued to crush the ship like it was a tin can.

"Stop!" Ben shouted at the top of his lungs.

He couldn't believe the power he was sensing off of her. He could almost see the force rippling through her and crackling through her brown eyes. She let out a pained yell. The effort was killing her.

"You're killing yourself! Stop! Please!" Ben pleaded with her.

She wouldn't relent. She meant what she had said. If he wouldn't fight with her then he had to die. But she was prepared to die too if it meant destroying him. It didn't matter how much she cared for scared her that she was willing to kill the very thing she was afraid to lose. Ben was right. She was being seduced by the dark side. _Fear of loss is a path to the dark side_. Where did he gain this wisdom?

"I can't stop, Ben. I don't know what's happening," Rey said, tears streaming down her face.

Ben didn't know what to do. In a moment's time the cabin pressure would drop and he'd be sucked out into space. He looked at the woman in front him, wise beyond her years and more powerful than a million dying stars. He could see her fighting with herself in her mind. This had been boiling for quite some time. But she was strong enough to keep it at bay for so many years. Something he'd failed to do from his very first flirtation with the dark side. She had a destiny and it hurt her that he wasn't willing to join her on the journey. She didn't want to fail but she also didn't want to lose the only person she'd ever had a genuine connection with. He was the family she'd waited for all her life.

The metal of the ship continued to creak and bend and grind around them but she couldn't stop. Her emotions flooded out of her like a dam had broken. All of her strength and all of her self discipline seemed to float away as she looked at the man before her.

"Stop, please. Rey. Stop!" he said more fearfully this time.

"You've made me weak," Rey said through her tears.

He leaned down suddenly and placed his lips on hers. He kissed her so gently that she wasn't even sure he'd actually done it. It was brief but enough to break her concentration. She was unable to maintain her hold on the ship.

He moved his hand from her throat and slid it down to her waist, pressing his body up against hers which was still pinned to the wall. He used his other hand to cup her face gently. Her breath was ragged and uneven. They didn't break eye contact once. She didn't know how to react to the sudden change in energy.

"Ben," she whispered.

He took her hand and placed it on his face. He forced her fingers to feel the deep scar she'd left there. He dragged her hand down the entire length of it and then placed it on his heart. She didn't know why she was surprised to feel it beating. Its beat was fast and erratic.

As though she'd snapped out of a trance, Rey quickly recovered her wits. She was horrified at what she'd done. She surveyed the deep cuts in Ben's face and chest and she was horrified at the way her anger had manifested. She'd hurt him before with no intention of killing him but this time she almost couldn't stop herself.

"Ben, I'm sorry. I-" she began.

Tears formed in her eyes and she fled back to Ahch-to leaving Ben behind on his own holding onto her ghost.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 11

When Rey came back to her body on Ahch-to, a familiar ship was waiting for her there. The Falcon. She brushed the tears out of her eyes and went down to meet it. When the doors opened, Leia, Chewie, C3PO and R2D2 spilled out onto the green.

She ran up and hugged each of them.

"What are you doing here, General?" Rey asked, excitedly.

"I'm dying, Rey." she replied, skipping the formalities in favor of urgency. Rey looked at her frailty and knew that it was true.

"What can I do?" Rey asked, her smile having faded.

"Please. Help me find my son," Leia begged. "I want to see him before I go."

Rey was shocked.

"Me? Why me?"

"I know about your connection," she said. "I've felt it in the force. I didn't understand it at first. I could always feel my son but also something else. I thought it was the darkness in him. Or Snoke. But when I met you. I knew that it was you. I felt it."

Leia stumbled a bit but Chewie held her up. Rey led them to an area to sit, near the burnt remains of the tree that used to house the Jedi texts. Leia surveyed the area, knowing what it was before Rey had time to explain. She'd seen the place in dreams.

"I don't know if I can help, Leia. I'm sorry. I don't know where Kylo Ren is," Rey told her.

"Kylo Ren," Leia smiled. "Han and I named him Ben after Ben Kenobi. Or you might know him as Obi-Wan. He sacrificed himself to save us. We gave him a hero's name. I'm glad he changed it when he joined Snoke."

Rey looked over at the ledge with the Rock where Luke had spent his last moments before disappearing into the force. Leia followed her gaze.

"Is that where-?" Leia started. She didn't have to finish. Rey nodded.

"Please take me there," Leia asked.

Rey led Leia up the mountain and they sat together on the rock. The sun was setting, casting a red hue over them.

Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 stayed back to run maintenance on the Falcon leaving the two women alone.

"You've seen Ben recently haven't you? I can sense him on you." Leia said to which Rey blushed.

"He appears to me sometimes. We've been training together since we've both been in hiding," Rey confessed. "But I honestly don't know where he is. He moves around so frequently and he never tells me where."

"Use the force," Leia urged. "It will guide him to you."

"I don't know if he'll want to see me. I tried to kill him last time I saw him."

"Just try, Rey. You're my only hope to see him one more time," Leia said weakly.

Rey closed her eyes and reached out with her feelings. She could feel Ben's breathe on her neck. He was standing right behind her.

"He's here. Can you see him?" Rey asked but Leia couldn't.

He placed his hand on the back of her neck. The feeling of leather made her shudder slightly. He then placed a soft kiss on her neck. She tried not to react but she knew Leia could sense the sudden surge of longing that shook the force around them. Leia almost smiled.

"What is this, Rey?" Ben asked, protectively stepping closer to her. "What is she doing here?"

"She's dying, Ben. She wants to see you." Rey replied, not turning to face him.

Ben stepped around Rey towards mother. She did look weak. He could sense the desperation on her to find him.

"Don't worry, son, I won't try to turn you again. I just want to tell you I love you in person." Leia said into to the air.

Ben knelt down next to his mother and even though she couldn't see him, she could feel him there. He put his hand on her cheek and Leia gasped, able to feel the sensation for a moment. A tear formed in his eye.

"If I tell you where we are, will you come?" Rey asked Ben.

"I can't. You cracked my ship. If I jump to lightspeed, It'll break apart," he replied. "But I'm close by. I've been tracking you."

"Then I'll come to you. Where are you?" Rey asked.

The connection broke abruptly before Ben was able to tell her.

"No!" Rey yelled. "I'm sorry, Leia. We aren't always able to control it. He's gone."

This was a lie. She knew something was wrong but she didn't want to confess it the general.

* * *

Supreme Leader Hux stood alone the bridge of his ship speaking to Chimera via holoprojector.

"This is better than we thought, Supreme Leader. I've followed the Millennium Falcon to a remote planet but I lost the signal after I came out of light speed. But I picked up the signal of Kylo Ren's ship. I think he's on the way to the girl," Chimera said. "I'm going to go after him."

"No! That's an order. You will leave him alone. Report back and I will send the fleet once you send me the coordinates." Hux demanded.

"But he's unsuspecting. I could blow his ship out of the sky before he even notices," Chimera protested.

"No!"

"I can kill him now or lure him into the Mylrian system, in range of the new Starkiller base. If we could get him and the girl there, we could use it against them. We could destroy them both!" she said, excitedly.

"It hasn't been tested yet. Chimera, report back to The Sovereignty. Now!" Hux yelled.

Chimera ended the call and disobeyed the order. She ordered her stormtroopers to aim and fire at Kylo Ren's ship instead.

The blast struck the already damaged ship and sent it hurling out of the sky. Chimera smiled to herself.

Ben was about to tell Rey his location when the blast sent his ship flying. The connection was broken immediately. The already damaged ship opened up and he was sent into space to float among the debri. He used the force to protect himself as he was sucked into the gravitational field of a nearby planet. He, along with pieces of his ship, was shot down like a bullet into a sandy desert.

The ship that'd shot him out of the sky was descending after him. He drew his lightsaber and prepared for a fight.

Chimera was horrified to see that Kylo Ren was still standing. Hux's word's rang in her head. If we shoot and miss he'll kill us all. She had to take her second shot.

"When we land I want you to find the controls of Ren's ship and send the coordinates of the Mylrian System and a distress signal to The Millennium Falcon. The Jedi girl will come running and we can take them both out," Chimera said. "I'll distract him."

The ship landed and the stormtroopers along with a droid went to follow Chimera's orders. The ship was in pieces but the main control panel was mostly intact. They sent the signal along with the coordinates while Chimera shot every gun she had at Kylo Ren.

Kylo was weakened by the fall but he was able to seize Chimera by the throat using the force.

"What have you done, you traitor!?" Kylo steamed, almost crushing her windpipe. "I'm your Supreme Leader. You dare turn a blaster on me?"

"Hux is the leader we need. You're nothing," Chimera choked out.

"You have nothing to threaten me with. What a weak attempt on my life," he said.

"I was just the distraction," Chimera smiled.

Kylo released her and spotted the stormtroopers rummaging through the last remnants of his ships. In a fit of anger he ignited his lightsaber and cut her down. He used the force to turn the blasters of their own ship against them and fired on the troopers, effectively destroying everyone inside. He then boarded their ship and took off towards The Sovereignty.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I posted 2 chapters out of order. Yikes. But I fixed it. So last chapter is also called Chapter 11. Sorry!

Chapter 11

The holoprojector shut off and Hux slammed his fist down. If Chimera tried and failed she'd ruin everything. He had to stop her but he knew it was probably already too late. He deployed the fleet to the Mylrian system, to the planet that he knew Chimera would try to lure Kylo and Rey to.  
He tried to think of what else to do but he was distracted by a large boom behind him. The doors of his bridge automatically shut and the alarms went off.  
"What's happening?!" Hux shouted into his radio.  
"The weapons vault has been destroyed, sir. None of the troopers in charge of that segment are answering. I'm sending in a unit now." one of the captains said through the intercom.  
"Take care of this now! This is a brand new ship!" Hux shouted before cutting off the radio.  
The doors to the bridge sprang open suddenly.  
"Have you found out what the disturbance is?" Hux asked, expecting it to be one his officers.  
"Yeah. It's us," came an unfamiliar voice.  
Hux turned around and was shot with a stun gun by Poe Dameron.  
"Quick. Lock the doors and disable the override!" Rose ordered BB-8. The little droid got to work immediately.  
Finn tied Hux up and kicked him in the ribs. Hux stirred a little and Finn smiled despite himself.  
"Careful, Finn. We can't have you going to the dark side." Poe joked.  
Poe was searching the panel looking for the holoprojector message that was used to control the stormtroopers. He pushed a button and a small holographic of Hux appeared.  
"That's it!" Finn yelled.  
"BB-8, I need you to analyze this and see if there's a subliminal message." Poe commanded.  
With a few beeps and pops, BB-8 inserted a probe into the panel and started to run analysis.

* * *

Chewbacca received the coordinates and a distress call from Ben's ship and relayed the message to Rey. She knew he was in danger when he cut the connection like that. They had to go rescue him but she feared the First Order had already found him. She'd never even heard of the Mylrian system before. She didn't know how they'd found him out there. Rey assisted Leia inside the Falcon and they all jumped to lightspeed. When they stopped, they were on what seemed to be a desert planet. It was sandy and vacuous like Jakku but there was a toxic stench in the air. Something was definitely wrong. Ben was nowhere in sight.  
"Ben said that he was nearby," Rey said. "We're too far from Ach-to. Something isn't right, General."  
Chewbacca roared.  
"It's not a trap! He wouldn't do that!" Rey retorted. "Something happened to him."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

BB-8 finished the diagnostic but the little droid didn't find any underlying message. Finn gave Hux another kick in the ribs in a show of anger. Hux even sneered when he was asleep. Finn looked at him with disdain.

"What now?!" Poe raged. "We bet everything on this!"

The doors of the bridge started to open.

"BB-8, I thought you disabled the overrides." Rose said.

"It's not being hacked. It's being opened by force," Finn said with terror in his eyes.

The doors bent open and in walked Kylo Ren, his robes flowing behind him. The three of them fired their blasters but Kylo deflected them easily. He raised a hand and froze them all where they stood. Their limbs wanted to move but they would not obey. They only obeyed Kylo's will.

"You beat me to him," Kylo said, looking down at Hux's still body.

He used the force to raise Hux to his feet and then slapped him across the face with his gloved hand. Hux's eyes started to open slowly but then shot open when he realized he was in a forcehold.

"Ren. I t-told her no-not to go after you. Sshe disobeyed my order!" Hux plead.

"I don't care. I need to know what her plan is for Rey. You'll tell me now!" Kylo barked.

Without having to pry into his mind, Hux relented.

"We've built a new Starkiller Base. Chimera is going to lure the girl into range of the planet destroyer." Hux blurted.

He extracted the coordinates from his mind.

"You would destroy an entire planet to kill one girl?" Kylo asked. "A weak move by a weak man. Call it off. Now."

"I can't. Chimera already gave the order. The weapon is already charged. I can't stop it now. It's too late."

"What authority does she have here?!" Kylo growled. "She's an officer. She can't order an attack."

"I promoted her to General," Hux admitted fearfully.

"You fool!" Kylo said, slapping him again.

He threw Hux to the side and turned his attention to the other three.

"You will tell me what you're doing here," Kylo commanded Rose.

"We're trying to find the subliminal message used to control the stormtroopers in the holoprojector broadcast," Rose said against her will.

Rose clasped a hand over her mouth. They were all surprised by Kylo Ren's reaction. He looked almost impressed.

"That's very intuitive," he said, glancing over at Hux. "But the holoprojector is just a testing system. The signal is emitted through their helmets which is controlled by an electromagnetic field generator that's located right here in this room. Every First Order ship has one."

"You'll never find it," Hux jeered, spitting blood from his mouth. "I designed this ship. It's different than The Supremacy."

Kylo Ren unsheathed his crackling red lightsaber and approached the three. Hux smirked. At least he and Kylo Ren were still on the same side about some things.

Poe, Finn and Rose all shook with fear, still unable to move. But Kylo Ren walked straight past them and put his lightsaber through the control panel. He could feel the signal creating vibrations in the air. The signal died as he pulled his blade back out.

"I could only ever tolerate that noise they make," he said to which the three couldn't relate. They didn't hear anything. But they attributed it to his special abilities he had from the Force.

"No! You fool!" Hux yelled. "The army will rebell!"

"Yes. Against _you_. The swine who kidnapped them and who's been twisting their minds for all of these years. You disgust me, Armitage." Kylo said, squeezing his throat through the force.

He redirected his attention to Rose, Finn and Poe.

"I'm going for the girl. You can kill this one if you want but it might be greater revenge to let the Storm Troopers have him," he said as he threw Hux across the room once more.

He reclipped his lightsaber to his belt and left the room.

Poe, Rose and Finn looked at each other torn between confusion and delight.

* * *

Ben flew as fast as he could to the Mylrian System. He had to beat the fleet there. His heart was racing but he knew that he was close. He could feel Rey's uncertainty in the force. Her presence was growing stronger and stronger. When he reached the planet, he crash landed on the sand, too impatient to make a proper landing.

Rey's ears perked up. She could sense Ben nearby. She took off running over a sand dune and saw a wrecked ship in the sand. Her heart sank.

"Ben!" she yelled.

She saw his black figure against the light sand emerging from the wrecked ship. They ran towards each other and embraced.

"It's a trap. We need to get out of here now," Ben said quickly, not yet letting go.

"Okay, come with me to the Falcon," Rey said.

They broke apart and ran together back to the ship and went aboard. It struck Rey how odd it was to see him there. He looked almost comical with his robes and self importance aboard his father's rundown ship. She could only imagine Ben as a child playing games with Chewbacca and his father. The thought almost made her laugh.

"Ben!" Leia cried.

"Mom," he said, dropping to his knees next to her. "What's happened?"

Leah sighed.

"The force wanted Luke and I to be born together and now it wants us to have died together. But I've held on for you. I had hope that you'd come." she said.

"You were always stronger than Luke," Ben said. "I wish it had been you that trained me."

"I'm sorry I failed you. I should have done more," Leia said.

Ben just placed a hand on hers. There was nothing he could say to apologize for everything he had done.

"I'm glad you stepped down from the fight. It's time for the Skywalkers to leave all of this behind," she said.

"Mother, I've destroyed part of the stormtrooper army and I've told your friends how to destroy the rest. The Resistance and the First Order die with you. I believe there's no war left to fight," he said.

"Then you've gotten your wish. To see old things die. Don't you worry though. A new tyrant will always be lying in wait ready to seize the mantle as soon as there's an opportunity." Leia said.

"It won't be me. I'm done with all of it. And if I'm being perfectly honest, mother, I don't think I'll make it out of this one alive. I don't think that I deserve to. I've done too much harm. The force won't allow me to stay. I unbalance it," he said.

Leia sighed. She could feel the power radiating off of him, mixed with the power of the girl standing in the doorway trying to make herself unseen. They were indistinguishable in The Force. Her light spread out like the wings of a bird and his darkness slithered between the rays. Leia winced. All of the power between them came with great pain. She could feel it.

Ben squeezed her hand more tightly.

"You always worshipped your grandfather but did you know your grandmother was a Queen?" Leia said after a little while. "She was strong until the end. She didn't allow her head to be turned by a pair of pretty eyes. Your grandfather was a young, handsome man once just like you. But the darkness corrupted him and by the end of his life he was more machine than man."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ben asked.

"Because you're royalty. I would have been Queen of Alderaan had your grandfather not blown it out of the sky. But even still, my beautiful boy, you're a prince in my eyes," Leia said. "You just haven't been acting like one. You've been acting selfishly and without purpose."

Ben cast his gaze down in shame.

"I don't want history to repeat itself with you," she continued. "Anakin loved his wife so much and he loved Luke and I too. He wanted us and he thought that we were dead. I could feel it in The Force from birth. I could always feel his pain. And now I feel it even more so in you. But you aren't alone anymore. I feel hope in you. I wish it'd been me that put that hope back in your heart."

"You inspired the entire galaxy with your preachings of hope," Ben replied.

"But my message missed the one person that mattered," Leia replied. "I'm sorry. Your father and I feared you and we sent you away. I thought that Luke was the answer."

"He tried to kill me. Did you know? Did he tell you? Or did he just disappear, letting everyone including you believe that I was a monster?" Ben asked.

"I-I didn't know," Leia replied. "You both left without saying a thing. How was I to know?"

"It doesn't matter. What would you have done? Killed him?" Ben asked, rhetorically. "I'm trying to let go of the past."

Leia put her hand on his cheek and a tear fell from the corner of her eye. Although it was bittersweet, the two were happy for their reunion.

Rey watched from a distance. Ben looked so young kneeling there before his mother. They spoke for a few minutes more but Rey couldn't make out what they were saying.

It wasn't before long that Leia closed her eyes and went silent. Ben clutched her hand to his chest and a few tears came down his face.

"I think I'll be seeing you soon, mother," he said.

And like magic, Leia disappeared. If Rey had blinked she would have missed it.

Ben wiped his face and joined Rey in the doorway.

"She's gone to The Force." he said.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Rey said, offering him a comforting hand.

"No matter. Let's just get out of here. We need to hide," Ben said, trying to repress his sadness as not to get distracted.

"Hide? _Kylo Ren_ , hide? Let's fight," Rey replied.

"Hux has built a new Starkiller Base. He plans to fire it on this planet and blow it out of the sky with us on it."

Ben put his hands on either side of Rey's face, using the opportunity to look at her in person. Somehow their interactions through the force weren't enough. They weren't as real as this moment. He could feel her pulse speeding up so that it was in sync with his own. She looked up at him, regretting that at some point she was going to have to look away. When he was near, she felt at peace. She felt wholeness and oneness.

He nearly leaned down and kissed her. She looked so beautiful staring up at him, not afraid of him in the least.

"The ship is damaged. We're having trouble jumping into hyperspace. We just need a few more minutes," Rey said.

"We don't have it. The fleet is already here."

The Falcon took a hit and started to free fall out of the sky.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Rey used her powers to levitate the Falcon while Ben used his to create a forcefield around them.

"I can't hold it much longer!" Ben said through gritted teeth.

"Chewie!" Rey yelled.

The wookiee let out a cry of anguish and slammed his fists down on the controls. To his surprise the ship lurched and entered the planet's gravitational orbit but the engine died again. They were sent circling the tiny planet. The blasters from the fleet missed them as they were thrown carelessly around.

"The ship is going to be pulled apart. Oh dear. We're all going to die," C3PO chimed, running around frantically.

One blaster beam was successful and it was enough to push the ship out of the ring and hurtling towards the next nearest planet. Rey and Ben used the force to slow down the impact of the crash.

"Where are we?" Rey asked.

"The new Starkiller Base," Ben replied, recognizing the design work of Hux.

Hux's fleet followed them and began descending.

"Get yourselves off of this planet. Leave without us if you have to," Rey said to Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2. "Repair the ship. We'll draw them away."

She and Ben took off and ran through the open door of the Falcon. They hid behind a snow covered cliff and contemplated their next move. Rey noticed the cold for the first time. The snow stung her skin. She was instantly reminded of her first fight with Kylo Ren. How things had changed.

Rey took out her lightsaber and the blue blade sprang to life, "We can't take them all. But there's no way we're slipping past all of these ships. They'll shoot us right out of the sky even if we're able to get the Falcon working again."

"It's not them that we need to worry about. It's the planet destroyer. It's never been used before. The whole base could explode if anything is wrong," Ben said.

"Then we need to stop it," Rey replied.

"We can't. It's already charged." Ben punished himself internally. "This was Hux's plan all along. He wanted us here. He was never going to fire on Mylreen."

Rey looked at him with a quizzical look.

"He knew the base was unstable. It's still under construction. If the planet destroyer is fired he knew the entire thing would implode," Ben said. "I underestimated him again. He knew that I'd come running to wherever you were without even questioning it."

"I hope that you took care of him," Rey said.

Ben shook his head, "I left him to your friends. Are they killers?"

Ben knew the answer without her having to speak.  
"So what do we do now?" Rey asked.

"We don't have time to make a plan. Let's just fight," Ben said.

"You sound like your father."

Rey followed Ben across the snow. They deflected blaster beams as they ran straight into view of the carriers. One of the carriers landed and hundreds of stormtroopers spilled out. Rey was able to change the direction of one of the blaster beams and take down an entire ship. The wreckage came crashing into the snow and created a large crater in the earth, killing several of the stormtroopers.

Rey then closed her fists and began to crush the remaining carriers above as she'd done with Ben's ship. These were much larger but she knew that if she could destroy at least part of the engines, they'd fall. Three of the ships started to fall and as if in slow motion and they crashed into each other, creating a blast shock. Ben and Rey ran from it into the interior of the base to protect themselves from the rest of the shock and the falling debris.

"Be careful!" Ben barked. "You're going to kill us all!"

"I don't see you doing anything!" Rey retorted.

"You're using too much energy. You're going to burn yourself out," Ben said, his aggression growing.

The stormtroopers kept coming like cockroaches. Ben flicked them to the side effortlessly as they ran through the metal corridors together.

"We can steal a ship," Ben said. "If it's one of theirs, maybe we can pilot it right past them without them noticing."

"There's no time to steal a ship and then get out of range of the planet destroyer. The black hole will suck us in," Rey responded.

"So we can't stay and we can't leave. Now what do we do?" Ben asked, frustrated.

"What did the Jedi texts tell us?" Rey asked rhetorically. "We must balance the force at any cost. It's our job to maintain that balance. If another planet is destroyed, it'll cause a disturbance again. Maybe if we maintain the balance, The Force will protect us."

"I'm the disturbance in the force, Rey," Ben said, angrily. "Disabling the weapon will balance the force no more than killing me will."

"What are you saying? I won't kill you." Rey was shocked.

"The Skywalker bloodline should have ended with Vader. He was born from midichlorians without any say from the force. He was an aberration as I am. My mother and uncle fought for decades to balance the force but all they had to do was kill themselves and then leave me out of it." Ben said. "That's the Skywalker legacy I'm left with."

Rey just looked at him with disbelief trying to find the lie. Trying to find the deception in this words. But she could tell it wasn't a game. It was something he'd been thinking about for a long time.

"You _were_ training me to kill you," Rey accused.

"I just want this pain to end," Ben said, almost breaking into tears but he regained his composure quickly.

They were surrounded again. Rey and Ben stood back to back, lightsabers drawn. There must have been a thousand of them.

"Just go, Rey. I'll fight them," Ben demanded.

"No!" Rey said, defiantly. "If you die, I'll be torn in half. You're in my very soul, like a scar. I won't survive it."

They locked eyes for a moment too long. A stray blaster beam struck Rey in the side and she went down.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry I abandoned the story! Things got crazy and I totally forgot so here are the rest of the chapters. Thanks for reading!

Ben roared with anger and pain. It'd been like the blaster struck him too. But he looked down and there was no wound.

He summoned the trooper that'd shot Rey and crushed his throat with his hand. He tossed him aside as though he were nothing. The darkness was rippling through him. Fury made his eyes glow red. His lightsaber seemed to crackle even more ferociously and it went an even deeper shade of blood red.

"Ben!" Rey cried.

He took a glance back at her before he drove his lightsaber blade into the floor in front of him. It created a shock wave that knocked down all of the stormtroopers around him, dead. He could hear his force wave reverberating around the entire base stretching some of the metal. It would keep them away for at least a little while.

Ben was using all of his energy to hold Rey's wound in place. He'd done the same for himself the first time he and Rey fought. He'd suffered a wound from Chewbacca's bowcaster and it took nearly all of his focus to keep his insides inside. But he was much stronger now and he had more to lose.

"You're losing control, Ben. Come back to me," Rey urged.

"We'll never get out of here with you like this. I don't have the energy to hold your wound and fight off the army," he said.

Rey groaned in agony.

"You don't have to do everything alone anymore, Ben. I'll help you," Rey replied. "You've never doubted my strength before. Please don't start now."

She was right.

He helped her up. She winced but she didn't want to show how much pain she was in. She wouldn't have Ben be distracted.

"You've broken your lightsaber, Ben," Rey said, noticing a crack in the hilt.

He looked down and saw the thin fracture. He'd crushed it in his hand when he saw Rey take the blaster hit. He hadn't even noticed the pain in his palm.

"Give it to me," Rey demanded.

The broken lightsaber had given her an idea. She was going to put Ben's lesson into effect. She was going to fight smart.

"Please," she urged.

Ben reluctantly handed over his beloved lightsaber. He'd made it when he was a young padawan at Luke's temple and he'd altered it after he joined Snoke. He modeled it after an ancient design he'd read about in a book once. He wanted something that'd strike fear into the hearts of his enemies with just its appearance. When he went darker and darker into the force, his kyber crystal bled more and more making his blade redder and more unstable as time went on. In his fight with Rey in the woods, she'd broken the hilt and so he had to replace it. Fate didn't want him to have the weapon. It was better off in Rey's hands.

She took Anakin's lightsaber and slashed the hilt of Ben's weapon with it. The metal fell away and she extracted the kyber crystal. He knew what her plan was.

She marveled at the cracked crystal. It was a beautiful, blood red. It had harnessed all of Ben's force energy throughout the years. It had transformed with him as he turned to the dark side. It had worked side by side with him for most of his life. It bled for him and It knew him intimately and symbiotically. And so she felt bonded to the crystal. It'd pain her to destroy it.

"We'll only have a short while to escape. The planet will become unstable," Ben said.

"I know," she replied.

Without anymore hesitation, she plunged the blue blade of Anakin Skywalker into the heart of Ben's kyber crystal. A blood red mushroom cloud formed, encapsulating them both. Ben hugged Rey close to him, trying to absorb as much of the shock as he could while trying to form a force field around them. He felt charged once all of the remaining debris had hit the ground and the planet destroyer was disabled. The energy from the planet destroyer seemed to flow through the both of them. The raw energy gave them renewed strength.

"Run!" Rey yelled as the base started to fold in on itself.

They ran side by side, hand in hand, out of the collapsing building. They stepped over what seemed to be hundreds of dead stormtroopers. Ben's fury had taken its toll on the entire base and everyone inside. Rey was equal parts impressed and scared by him. But there was no time to assess the darkness in him. She prayed she'd make it out alive so that she could pull him back if he'd gone too far into darkness.

Ben was still focused on keeping Rey's wound in and so he didn't notice when a few of the higher ranking captains came charging at him. One swung at Ben's head but Rey was able to block it with her lightsaber. It was four on two. They had shiny armour on like Phasma used to wear. Ben rolled his eyes. Hux couldn't choose a replacement and so he chose four. Typical.

The two of them tossed the one lightsaber back and forth, systematically destroying the faceless soldiers. Once they'd all fallen, Rey collapsed. She wanted to tell Ben to leave without her, but she already knew that he wouldn't.

"We won't survive this, Ben." Rey said sternly.

To be continued.

 **Chapter 15**

Continued…

"We won't survive this, Ben." Rey said sternly.

"It can't end this way," he said, kneeling down to her. "I've only just got you. I'm not ready to let you go. We need more time. Please. We'll make it. We're the last force users. The force will protect us."

He said the last part with no conviction as though he didn't believe his own words.

"You don't know that it'll protect us," Rey replied. "We don't know that's how the force works. I've been naive. You shouldn't put your faith in that."

"I haven't. My faith is in you," Ben said, growing frustrated. "When will you understand that I don't care about the ancient texts or the force or the war or any of it? My only focus is you. You wanted someone to show you your place in all of this but you didn't need it. I did. I thought that I was only part of this as a legacy and so I tried to forge my own way and make my own name. But it was all for nothing. I didn't find my real place until I stood next to you. And now you're part of me. I don't know what's you and what's me anymore. I feel that blaster wound on my own body. I feel you dying slowly and I know that you aren't using your own force energy to maintain your injury. I'm doing it _for_ you. Why give up, Rey? Why now?"

"I'm so tired. I'm tired of waiting," Rey replied. "My life was to find the value in broken things. I sort of thought of myself like a broken thing as well, a hidden treasure. I just needed someone to see the value in me. I waited for someone to see that in me. I waited my entire life for you."

Ben put his hand on Rey's cheek. Instinctively she leaned into it.

"But, Ben," Rey continued. "When we get back, what do you think will happen? Do you think anyone will just allow us to be together? And forget about other people. Do you think we'll watch sunsets together and steal kisses underneath the stars? We're holding onto a fantasy here. It's not real. It was manufactured for us and we fell into the trap. I won't wait anymore for something that won't happen."

Ben hoisted Rey off the ground and held her close. She was reminded of their swim in the caves of Ahch-to. He'd held her up as they swam in the silent, eerie cave. But this was different. Everywhere they looked there was chaos and destruction and fire.

Her heart skipped a little at the contact and her skin felt like she was touching a million live wires wherever their bodies touched.

"We're not meant to be normal. Normal people are boring," he said. "I saw you snatch entire warships out of the sky today. We took out an entire fleet and its army, just the two of us. We survived an explosion that is literally destroying the entire planet that we're on. We don't need normal. We need each other. That's it."

"You've only just said that you're an aberration," Rey retorted. "And we have abilities and this connection that the force has never seen before. How do we know the force doesn't want to claim us both? We could just enter the force now. Together. We could go with this planet and we wouldn't be alone anymore. We could just disappear now while everything is perfect between us."

"I'm the mistake. Not you," Ben said.

"There's no hope!" Rey cried. "We're out of time."

"Leia always said that hope is like the sun -."

"If you only believe in it when you can see it then you'll never make it through the night," Rey finished.

"But what's so wrong with the night?" Ben asked. "If we make it out of this, a lifetime in the night is better than any morning ever could be without you."

He pulled her closer so that their lips were nearly touching. She could feel his longing and his yearning in the force. His emotions were churning but not for the chaos around them. All he could see was her. He didn't care if the entire planet fell out of the sky. He had what he wanted. Even if it was only for the next few moments. They could feel the planet about to erupt. It would be soon. Rey had been right. There was no time. It was funny that the two most powerful people beings in the entire galaxy would be wiped out at once. The Jedi, the Sith, all of it would die with them. Power and strength meant nothing to fate.

"If you want to go then I'll go with you," Ben said, his voice and his expression tender.

"I don't want to go," she whispered.

Rey pulled Ben down to her height and pressed his lips against hers. He was surprised at first but he relaxed and kissed her back. Gently at first but then with a starving desire. It was much different than their first kiss. Their first kiss had only sparked her interest. It had been so light that she barely felt it. Like he was afraid that if he was too rough, she'd break. But it was more like he was afraid that if he'd been wrong about the attraction, _she'd_ break _him_. There was nothing fragile about her and he knew it. She was the only person he was truly scared of. Snoke and Luke could have destroyed his body but she had the power to destroy his heart and his soul too. He wished he could do more than kiss her. He wished he could spend a day with her. And then another. And every single day until they added up and equaled a lifetime.

They broke apart apprehensively but stayed close, their foreheads touching. Their eyes were still closed and they were breathless. They were embarrassed to look at each other. It was the first time they'd opened up to someone both emotionally and physically. Ben kissed Rey's forehead and then just held her in his arms. He tried to cover her up completely with himself to protect her from all of the destruction around them.

"We'll see each other again. I believe that," Rey said quietly.

"I'm in love with you," Ben whispered so low that she almost missed it.

As soon as he spoke, the earth opened up and the planet disappeared in a blast of fire and light. Rey wasn't scared anymore though. She felt at peace. She was still wrapped in Ben's arms, protected by his energy.

However, after a few moments, Rey's eyes shot open. Realization hit her. Ben was dying. She could feel him drifting away into the force. But she felt fine. There was no way. Unless...He was protecting her. He was using everything in himself to protect her. The effort was ripping him apart. He was absorbing all of the energy from the blast until his eyes were glowing red. She realized then that the flash of red that she saw before wasn't the dark side, it was desire. It was love. It was passion. And she was about to watch it die right in front of her. She tried to scream but no words came out. She tried to tell him she loved him back but she couldn't hear her own words. It was like she was under water, in the caves of Ahch-to. And then it was black. Everything went dark.

 **Chapter 15**

Rey woke up aboard The Sovereignty which was being piloted by Poe Dameron. She woke up in a fright and scrambled to her feet. Finn, Rose and BB-8 rushed inside when they heard her stir.

"You're awake!" Finn exclaimed, giving Rey a big hug.

"Where am I? I didn't get to tell him...Where's Ben?" Rey was disoriented. "I didn't answer. I need to talk to Ben."

She got to her feet but her knees buckled and Finn caught her before she fell. He helped her back into bed and she settled down slightly.

"What happened to him? Please tell me," Rey pleaded.

Finn and Rose looked at each other. That was all Rey needed. She looked up at the ceiling and let the tears fall from the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Rey. We only found you, floating out there." Rose said. "It's a miracle that you survived. I didn't think anything could survive the destruction of a planet."

"Liar," Rey whispered.

"What?" Rose asked, unsure if she'd heard correctly.

"You all left him to die out there, didn't you?" Rey accused.

"I think you're confused, Rey. You just need to rest." Finn urged.

The pain was swelling in her chest. It hurt so bad that she didn't know how to handle it. It was manifesting in rage and paranoia even though she knew Finn and Rose would never do something like that. She could hear herself speak but she couldn't stop herself from saying things she didn't mean. She let out a cry of agony. Not for the throbbing wound in her stomach or the dull pain all over her body from over exertion but from her heart hurting. The pain came in waves and rippled through her body, leaving her empty and exhausted.

"I'm sorry, Rey," Rose said gently. "We didn't know."

They didn't know because all of their meetings were done in private, in the dark, in hiding, in secret, in shadow, in the night. When they'd mentioned him, she feigned disgust. But the truth was that she'd been in love with him for almost all of her life.

More tears fell from the corners of Rey's eyes. She cried out again and all of the furniture in the room hovered off the ground.

"Rey!" Finn yelled. "Stop!"

Rey composed herself and the furniture went crashing to the ground.

"I'm sorry. Can I just be alone?" Rey asked.

Rose and Finn excused themselves and BB-8 went popping and squeaking after them.

She went to the window and was surprised to see that they were on the ground. They were on a dusty, sandy planet like home but it wasn't Jakku. This planet had two suns and they were about to set.

"If you only believe in the sun when you can see it…" Rey whispered to herself. "But what's so wrong with the night?"

She punished herself internally. She was relying on simple senses to tell her that Ben was gone. He wasn't there but that didn't mean she couldn't feel him. She reached out and she felt something.

"Ben?" she asked out loud, hope restored to her voice.

A dark cloud, a presence, seemed to loom over the room. It wrapped its arms around her and almost whispered something in her ear. She turned around to face it but it was gone.

"Ben, is that you? Are you alive?" she asked the air.

There was no response but her faith wasn't shaken. Rey grabbed her lightsaber off the table and headed off in search of the Millennium Falcon.

 _You'll never make it through the night._

 ** _The End_**


End file.
